Anise-Scented Fig and Date Swirls Reviews

You might be tempted to bake 2 sheets of cookies at a time in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Don't give in to this urgethe cookies must go in the middle of the oven to cook through and brown evenly.

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Reviews

users rating4/4

IF you like Anise and figs and dates, these are fabulous. Light and soft with a nice crunch, and visually interesting to boot. Next time, though, I'd keep some or all of the sugar out of the date/fig mixture -- they're quite sweet enough. I put them in the freezer for a little bit before slicing, and flipped them over after about 7 minutes of cooking, and gave them 5 minutes after that, which seemed about perfect.

I make these very often. They are so delicious! I do make a small change to the recipe though. I use the figs only. No sugar in the filling. I do add at least 1 tablespoon of orange zest and some orange juice to moisten the fig paste. Plus one or two tablespoon of Grand Marnier Liquor. Also, I add a teaspoon of Sambuca Anise Liquor to the dough. Really fastastic! My favorites!

I made these cookies for a big party and they vanished so quickly that people must have been stuffing them into their pockets AND mouths. They're fragrant, beautiful and all-around delightful. I followed the recipe to the letter, and didn't have any browning problems (used silpat.) I found it helpful to stick the assembled spiral logs in the freezer. Slicing and baking the dough frozen helps prevent you from getting D-shaped cookies, keeping the slices perfectly rounded.

After making these, how can anyone eat Fig Newtons again? These cookies have an excellent, fruity-yet-savory taste, and they're so fragrant that I'd make them just to have the house smell so good. I agree that browning is a concern--turning halfway through helped, and I will try using Silpat next time.

If you're accustomed to only ever eating Oreos and Pepperidge Farm cookies, then you might think these cookies have a "weird taste" and even that they "suck." Otherwise, you'll find that these are fantastic cookies. The dough itself smells so incredible, I almost couldn't wait to bake them before eating them! I made about 15 different kinds of Christmas cookies last year, and these are the ones that my husband loved and has asked me repeatedly to make again. They're surprisingly easy to make, although a bit time-consuming, so I can't make them as often as I'd like, but I will definitely make them again this year for the holidays.

I make these cookies very often. I find that using just half of the figs and dates is much better because the cookies keep better once they are in a jar. Lovely! for extra anise taste add one teaspoon of anise extract to the dough. Of course, I do not agree with the reviwer that says these cookies "suck". This person should take baking classes.